GloRilla played NYC with Cardi B, Gloss Up, Slimeroni, K Carbon, Aleza & more (pics, review)
Fresh off performing at the Grammys' 50th anniversary of hip hop celebration, rising Memphis rapper GloRilla continued her Anyways, Life's Great tour in support of her breakthrough 2022 EP of the same name. Joined by her crew of fellow Memphis rappers Gloss Up, Slimeroni, K Carbon, and Aleza, Glo landed at NYC's Irving Plaza on Wednesday night (2/22) for a packed show, full of energy and surprises.
The show began promptly at 8 PM, with a few songs by Aleza, followed by K Carbon, who also brought out Aleza for one of her songs. Slimeroni showed off her solo material next, and then it was Gloss Up, fresh off releasing her Quality Control debut Before the Gloss Up. Gloss Up seems like she'll be the next one in this group to rise up, and she had a chunk of the crowd singing along as she did a handful of already-memorable songs from her new project, including her GloRilla collab "Bestfrenn" (sans GloRilla). Then the crowd really sang along when Gloss brought Aleza, K Carbon, and Slimeroni back out, and they ended the night's opening portion with their posse cut "Shabooya."
After a lengthy DJ set, the curtains finally dropped, revealing GloRilla on stage with four dancers and an extravagant, truly awesome stage setup. She was on an elevated platform, surrounded by four screens lit up with vibrant colors and a big "G" on the screen beneath her. It was not the kind of thing you'd expect to see at a place like Irving Plaza, or on an artist's first proper tour, but it made perfect sense for GloRilla who is clearly going to be playing much bigger venues the next time she hits the road. She opened with a handful of songs from Anyways, Life's Great and had the crowd eating it up and rapping along right off the bat. Her first guest of the night was Niki Pooh, who showed up for "Get That Money," as she's done at other stops of the tour too. The show was off to a great start, but the momentum paused just a few songs in, as Glo took an intermission.
Her DJ kept the energy alive with another hits-filled set, though this went on longer than I think most people would've wanted, but none of that mattered after Glo returned for the second half of her set, which was even better than the first. The set resumed with local surprise guest Lola Brooke, and when the spotlight was back on GloRilla, she asked the crowd who'd been following her since before she got signed. After much of the crowd roared in the affirmative, Glo went into a track from her pre-CMG/Interscope days, and then she invited her friends Aleza, K Carbon, Slimeroni, and Gloss Up back on stage, and they did their pre-fame posse cut "Set the Tone."
The biggest and most epic surprise of the night, though, was when GloRilla did her hit "Tomorrow 2" and then brought out the song's guest: hometown hero Cardi B. As soon as Cardi hit the stage, her name was lit up on the screen behind her, and GloRilla and the crowd went nuts, with everyone in the room rushing towards the stage to be as close as possible. It was a relatively rare appearance for Cardi, who hasn't performed much lately, and also a very intimate one. She killed it, and looked genuinely excited to be there.
It's not easy to top a Cardi B guest appearance, but Glo kept it going with a confetti-filled performance of her breakthrough hit "F.N.F (Let's Go)," and I don't think a single person in the room wasn't yelling along to this one. As for what she could do after playing her two biggest hits? She held a twerk contest with members of the crowd. (Earlier in the show, she brought up three men from the crowd to be handcuffed to the stage and get lap dances from her dancers while she did "Nut Quick.") Then GloRilla and her dancers waved goodbye as her recent single "Internet Trolls" played over the PA, followed by her recent Moneybagg Yo collab "On Wat U On."
Check out videos from the show, including Cardi's appearance, and more pics by Edwina Hay below...